Ralph is looking at a vein (likely a muscular vein).
Explanation:
Of all three great types of vessel present in vertebrates (arterial, venous, lymphatic), only veins and lymphatic vessels may normally contain valves. This is an essential feature of vessels which present low pressure flow, since it ensures that such flow is unidirectional.
Since blood cells are not typically found in lymphatic vessels, the vessel in question can be assumed to be a vein.
To solve this, you would need to identify the number of amino acids (20) you are dealing with and the number of positions (8) that are available in your polypeptide. so that would come out to 20 x 20 x 20 x 20 x 20 x 20 x 20 x 20 = 20^8